Street or station indicator.



D. S. WISEHART, STREET OR STATION INDICATOR. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 23,1911.

1,039,626 Patented Sept. 24,1912.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1.

Mimi 94d D. S. WISEHART.

STREET 0R STATION INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 23, 1911.

1,039,626. Patented Sep 1912.

3 SHEET ET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH c0" WASHINGTON. D. :4

Patented Sept. 24, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

D. S. WISEHART. I STREET OR STATION INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 23, mm.

HAFI

i W i wucwto'z DOCTOR SMITH WISEHART, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS.

STREET OR STATION INDICATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 24, 1912.

Application filed August 23, 1911. Serial No. 645,605.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, Docron S1\[IT.II 'Wlsn- HART, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Decatur, in the county of Macon and State ofIllinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Street or StationIndicators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to street or station indicators, and has for anobject to provide an apparatus of this character for use in publicconveyances such as street cars or the like to indicate the names of thestreets or stations in proper order or succession when approaching thesame or when stops are made.

Another objectof the invention is to provide an indicator which willinclude an indicating apron on which. the names of the streets orstations are printed or otherwise suitably arranged and to furtherprovide winding rollers for supporting the apron and for accuratelywinding the same on movement of the apron to its display posi tion.

Another object of the invention is to pro vide the companion supportingrollers for the apron with springs which operate in opposition to eachother so that as the apron is wound upon one roller under the tension ofthe spring, the spring adjacent the receiving roller will be unwound soas to effectively move the apron in either direction.

Another object of the invention is to provide a counterbalancing brakemember which will operate to normally arrest the feed or apronsupporting rollers and to hold the apron operatively in its adjustedposition after the apron is adjusted to station-display position.

In the drawings, forming a portion of this specification and in whichlike numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the several views:Figure 1 is a side view of the indicator. Fig. 2 is a similar viewshowing the apron-reversing means operatively connected with thecontrolling lever. Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the indicator.Fig. l is a section on line 4-4 of Fig 3. Fig. 5 is a view similar toFig. 3 with the omission of the guiding and display rollers. Fig. 6 is aperspective view of the controlling lever. Fig. 7 is a perspective viewof the winding lever. Fig. 8 is a section on line 88 of Fig. 1.

The indicator comprises a suitable casing or housing 1 which may bemounted in any suitable well known manner on the car so as to bedisposed in full view of the passengers. The casing has mountedtherewithin superimposed apron-supporting rollers 2 and 3 each includinga winding spring These springs are provided with portions 4? which arefixedly secured to the casing and portions 6 which are fixedly securedto the rollers. In advance of the rollers 2 and i3, and suitablyjournaled in the walls of the casing l are combined guiding and displayrollers 7 and 8, each being preferably provided with a central axle 9which extends through the sides of the casing, as shown.

The terminal ends of the indicator apron 10 are wound in oppositedirections around the rollers 2 and 3 respectively, and as shown, saidapron is extended over the combined guiding and display rollers 7 and 8so that any desired indicating portion of the apron can be quicklybrought into registra tion with the transparent display portion 1 l ofthe casing. The rollers 7 and 8 are provided with peripheral radiallyextending teeth 12 which are adapted to fit in cor respondingly formedperforations 18 in the apron 10.

From the construction described it will be seen that when the apron istraveling in the direction of the arrows shown in Fig. 3 of thedrawings, the spring on the uppermost roller is being placed undertension. In other words, this spring is being wound on the unwinding ofthe lower spring and vice versa. lVith view of retarding the move mentof the apron under the influence of the springs 4, I provide a brake orcounterbalancing roller 14. This roller is revolublv mounted in thecasing 1 and is provided with an axle 15, the ends of which aresupported in the journal portions 16 of the springs 17 The roller 1% isprovided with a peripheral elastic surface 18, and under the influenceof the springs 17 the roller is held in a position to cause the surface18 thereof to be frictionally engaged with the peripheral surface of thedisplay roller 7.

One end of the axle 9 of the display roller 7 has fixedly mountedthereon a ratchet feed wheel 20 which is preferably provided withperipheral suitably spaced sockets 21. A controlling lever 22 is looselysupported on this end of the axle, and asshown, the lever is provided atone side with a substantially semi-cylindrical extension 23 whichextends into the casing, the surfaces 2% of the extension beingyieldingly engaged by the extremities ot a restoring spring 26, the saidspring operating to hold the lever 22 normally in a neutral position, asshown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The lever is provided with a slidingdog 27 which is normally held disengaged from the wheel 20 through thein'tluence of a spring 28, the latter having one end bearing against thedog guide 29 and the opposite end engaged against the shoulder 30 ot thedog. The outer end of the dog is pivoted, at 31, to a rock member 32.The lever 22 is provided at opposite sides of the axial line of the dogwith ears 33 and The former mentioned ear is adapted to interchangeablyreceive the rocking member 32 through the medium of the pivot pin thatis to say, reference being more particularly directed. to Fig. 2 of thedrawing, that when it is desired to reverse the apron the free end 32 ofthe rocking member 32 is pivotally connected with the ear by means ofthe pin It will, of course, be understood as illustrated in the drawing,that these ears and rocking member are provided with aliningperforations to permit the interchangeable connection of the saidrocking member with respect to said ears. The said apertured ear 35% maybe employed for the insertion of a pin or the like, whereby the upwardmovement of the free end of the rocking member 32 may be limited and byso doing will control the engagement of the dog 27 with the spacedsockets 21. An actuating cable 36 depends from one end of the member 32and is adapted to be manually actuated when it is desired. to move theapron to station-display position. On reference to Fig.1 of thedrawings, it will be seen that the rocking member 32 is pivotallyconnected with the cars :33 of the controlling lever. N ow, when it isdesired to move the apron in the direction of the arrows shown in Fig. 3of the drawings, the actuating cable 36 is pulled downwardly. This rocksthe member 32 so as to impart sliding movement to the dog 27, causingthe dog to operatively engage in one of the notches 21 in the feed wheel20. On further downward movement of the actuating cable the feed wheel20 and the roller 7 will be revolved so as to cause the apron to bemoved across the display portion 11 of the casing. To limit the movementof the lever 22 in two directions, I provide the stops 3? and 38 eachbeing provided with a threaded stem 39 which is removably fitted in acorrespondingly formed passage d0 in one of the walls of the casing, aseries of such passages being employed and the stops 37 and 88 beinginterchangeably fitted therein. When it is de sired to move the apron ina reverse direction, the rocking member 32 is interchangeably pivoted bypivotally connecting its terminal end 32 with the ear 83, as shown inFig. 2 of the drawing, and the actuating cable 36 is extended upwardlyand over the guiding rollers a1 and L2 which are mounted on one side ofthe casing at a point adjacent to the feed wheel 20, the rollers 4L1being disposed above the plane of the controlling lever 22. Should it bedesired to wind the apron continuously from one of the supportingrollers to the other, I provide the winding crank -13, the same beingfitted to one end of the axle 2, as shown.

I claim:

1. An indicator comprising a housing, winding rollers for a roll ofdisplay tape mounted in said housing, guiding rollers for unwinding thetape from one of the rollers, a shaft supporting one of the guidingrollers means for causing the tape to be wound upon the other roller, adriving gear wheel on the shaft of one of the guiding rollers, anactuating lever mounted on said shaft on the outside of said casing, adog slidably mounted on the actuating lever and normally disengaged fromthe said gear wheel, controlling means for the dog for moving the sameinto engagement with the gear wheel, an extension carried by said leverand extending within said casing, a spring engaging said extension fornormally holding said actuat ing lever in neutral position.

2. An indicator comprising a display tape, winding rollers therefor,guiding rollers for the tape, a shaft supporting one of the guidingrollers, a gear wheel on the shaft, an actuating lever movable on theshaft and provided with an ear, a dog slidably engaged with the leverand normally disengaged from the gear wheel, a spring engaging the leverto hold the same yieldingly against movement in one direction, a dogcontrolling member carried by the actuating lever and an actuatingelement operating to simultaneously move the actuating lever and to movethe dog to an engaged position with said gear wheel, said actuatingelement being adapted for an interchangeable connection with said car.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

D. SMITH IVISEI-IART.

Witnesses J A0013, A. .ADAMS, JACOB II. LATHAM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

